As plural component materials such as paints and the like have become more popular and widespread in recent years, there has been an increasing desire on the part of users of such materials for better solutions to mix and dispense those materials. The traditional low technology way of using such materials is commonly known as hot potting. In hot potting, the user merely pours the desired amounts of the two (or more recently three) components into a container, mixes them and then sprays or otherwise applies the material to a substrate. In addition to the mess involved in doing so, such use often results in inaccurate mixing and wasted material as often the total amount of material mixed is not utilized.
Mechanical proportioners such as Graco's HYDRA-CAT® are suitable in such applications yet provide no monitoring functions and often lack flexibility in the ratios and the types of material that can be metered and applied. Electronic proportioners have become more popular in recent years but tend to be relatively more expensive due to the expensive fluid meters involved.